Word: mantissa
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...MANTISSA by John Fowles; Little, Brown; 196 pages...
...fifth novel, Author John Fowles again performs the sort of narrative legerdemain that made both The Magus (1966) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) such popular puzzlers. He raises tantalizing and entertaining questions. Why, for openers, does he call this novel Mantissa and then provide a self-deprecatory definition of the word, "An addition of comparatively small importance, especially to a literary effort or discourse"? Does that mean readers seeking substantial fare should look elsewhere? Other queries quickly arise. Is this Erato who breaks into Miles' story real or a figment of his imagination? Wait a minute...